The Three Levels of MLB Druggies

I was listening to a podcast of Max Kellerman & Brian Kenny's radio show on ESPN Radio in NYC. And Kellerman mentioned that he had 3 levels of suspicion when it came to alleged steroid users.

I thought that that was an interesting concept. Here's my list, using his categories:

Level 1: "You juiced, I'm saying it, Sue me if you don't like it" [...] "I'm not accusing them -- I'm saying it as a matter of FACT"

Barry Bonds
Mark McGwire
Jose Canseco
Sammy Sosa
Rafael Palmeiro
Chuck Knoblauch
Bret Boone
Roger Clemens
Jason Giambi
Eric Gagne

Level 2: "I'm not saying as matter of fact that they did it, but I am saying that I'd like to play prosecutor in a case against them."

Lots of red flags around these guys, including radical weight changes, radical statistical changes, ridiculously amazing statistics, total career turn-arounds, and the like.

Ivan Rodriguez
Manny Ramirez
Miguel Tejada
Nomar Garciaparra
(Career went downhill with a wrist injury -- something about a split tendon & damage to the tendon sheath.)

David Ortiz
(Just hit the DL with a split tendon sheath in his wrist. Did they have this injury back in the 1960's?)

Mike Piazza
(Freakish numbers for a guy who played a rigorous position in pitcher's parks, and was originally drafted in like the 60th round of the MLB draft.)

Travis Hafner
(Great numbers one year, falls off the map the next year)

Level 3: Not saying they did it as a matter of fact, and not sure one could prove it in a court of law

Alex Rodriguez
(Canseco may be a snake in the grass, but he has a decent record when he points the finger.)

Pedro Martinez
(Had an awfully amazing fastball to come from such a scrawny body. And originally had a hard time getting MLB scouts to notice him.)

Who am I missing? I'll add them to the list.

Jon Stewart on Clemens

There's a little bit of Jon Stewart's brand of liberal tripe, and a little bit of bleeped out language, but I found his take on "the Roger Clemens Hearings" before the House Oversight Committee hilarious!

Summary & Analysis of Today's Congressional Hearings on Steroids

Well, it was great drama today up on the Hill. Three men were sworn in & testified before the House Oversight Committee: Roger Clemens, Brian McNamee, and Charles Scheeler (Who? He was an assistant in Senator Mitchell's investigation, and today, little more than a potted plant in the room to keep Clemens & McNamee from swinging at each other). I was able to arrange my schedule to watch most of the almost 5 hours of statements & sworn testimony. The highlights in my mind:

• There is a growing mountain of evidence against the claims of Roger Clemens. Brian McNamee's testimony is supported by claims from former Major Leaguer Chuck Knoblauch & current pitcher Andy Pettitte that McNamee was indeed telling the truth about THEIR past use of performance enhancing drugs (PED's). Also, by his multiple testimonies, Pettitte is convinced that Clemens admitted his use of PED's to him almost 10 years ago. And there was medical evidence presented that the abscess that Clemens developed on his hind parts were likely caused by a steroid injection -- and that it almost certainly was NOT from a B-12 injection. There's more, but the evidence is credible, there's a large amount of it, and I believe that it is damning.

• When there are politicians involved, you know that not everything is above the table. And there was certainly a fair amount of politicking and grandstanding in that hearing today.

Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) grilled Brian McNamee for lying to police officers & investigators in the past. The Committee Chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), apologized to Brian McNamee in the closing statements (which included a dramatic gavel down of a Clemens interruption) for what had to be his shame over the antics of Rep. Burton. Burton's line of questioning did little more than demonstrate that Brian McNamee lies when it is convenient for him. Well, due to the plea agreement between he & federal investigators, it is nothing if not inconvenient for him to tell any lies about his history with PED's. Yes, he is a dirty person. But unfortunately, the witnesses in these kinds of cases tend not to be people with unblemished character. In this individual's mind, Brian McNamee, on the subject of Roger Clemens' PED usage, is believable beyond a reasonable doubt.

• As a moderate conservative, I was extremely disappointed by the performance of the Republican Representatives today. Almost in lockstep, they seemed to make excuses for Clemens & sought to discredit Brian McNamee. Also, again almost in lockstep, many of the Republicans demeaned the idea of even having that particular hearing today.

What was THAT all about?

This is not a partisan issue. It almost stretches the imagination in the direction of conspiracy theories. It is an election year. Is it possible that Roger Clemens promised a little cash in return for a cushioned reception at today's hearings? I'm just thinking out loud. But the behavior of the Republicans today was highly partisan, obstructed the flow of the hearing, and was just distasteful overall.

• Overall, Clemens looks like the liar. Brian McNamee proves himself better able to offer credible explanations to questions & better able to recall details of the last 10 years. Clemens offers explanations that strain credibility, and he appears less able to recall the details that are pertinent to possible steroid usage.

Also, Clemens appears to have a duplicitous nature -- that is, he appears oddly comfortable living with inconsistencies. When Clemens was questioned about Pettitte's statements, he didn't budge on the idea of Andy Pettitte always being an honest person even when presented with testimony that did not fit with his own. This is the sure sign of a liar.

As George Costanza once waxed eloquent on the hit television series, Seinfeld, "It's not a lie if you believe it." Clemens is very passionate about his version of events. But when you try to piece all of it together, the puzzle pieces don't all fit very well. We have yet to see what will come of this in terms of perjury charges and the like. But little doubt remains in my mind that Roger Clemens is a liar.

Looking Ahead to Wednesday...

It's getting difficult to keep up with the latest antics of the dueling lawyers in this Clemens/McNamee public feud. They will all meet before Congress on Wednesday, and there appear to be major developments daily! Last time I blogged about this, McNamee's lawyers had just released pictures of "evidence" they had turned over to federal investigators. It appears that these lawyers were engaging in a campaign to "return the favor" to Clemens who had publicly embarassed McNamee by some of the tactics he has employed in an attempt to clear his name in the court of public opinion.

Well, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Clemens' lawyers are now touting evidence that proves McNamee was lying in The Mitchell Report. Here's the key excerpt from pages 168-169 of the Report:

Jose Canseco was playing for the Blue Jays in 1998. On or about June 8-10, 1998, the Toronto Blue Jays played an away series with the Florida Marlins. McNamee attended a lunch party that Canseco hosted at his home in Miami. McNamee stated that, during this luncheon, he observed Clemens, Canseco, and another person he did not know meeting inside Canseco’s house, although McNamee did not personally attend that meeting. Canseco told members of my investigative staff that he had numerous conversations with Clemens about the benefits of Deca-Durabolin and Winstrol and how to “cycle” and “stack” steroids. Canseco has made similar statements publicly.

Clemens' lawyers now say that they have proof (in the form of a receipt from a golf course at the time of the party & a sworn affidavit from Jose Canseco) that Roger Clemens never attended this party or was a part of this meeting. ESPN reporter T.J. Quinn offers some perspective on this admission of evidence:


Also, in this case, current Major League pitcher Andy Pettitte has admitted that he did receive performancing enhancing substances from Brian McNamee. What will this committee meeting Wednesday do to his & Roger's long-time relationship? Will they be pitted against one another?


Are Clemens' lawyers over-stepping their bounds? One Congressman said that Clemens' lead lawyer Rusty Hardin better watch what he says, especially in relation to federal investigators.

Which person is lying? What will the fall-out be? This story has so many compelling issues involved with it. I can't wait to see it all play out on the congressional stage Wednesday.

Like the Dress? Or Like the Glove?

It is not uncommon in society for people who are in the public eye to lie. But what we are seeing right now in the public feud between Major League pitcher Roger Clemens & his former trainer Brian McNamee feels different. How often is it that we have two different personalities going to such great lengths to assure the public that the other party is lying? And not only does each side say that other side lying, but that they are in fact pathological!

This is rarefied air.

Clemens has gone to such lengths to clear his name as to appear on 60 Minutes in an interview by Mike Wallace & hold his own press conference where he played a tape of a recorded conversation (that contained little of anything substantive) between he & McNamee from a few days prior. He even waived his right to plead the 5th when he was deposed by Congress a few days ago.

And now McNamee has trumped everything by now possibly having provided the proverbial smoking gun. Brian McNamee supposedly kept medical materials (e.g. needles, syringes, vials, gauze, etc.) that he used to inject Clemens with steroids & HGH back in 2000 and 2001. He says that he kept these materials because he had a hunch that Clemens might turn on him one day. That's an interesting theory -- we'll see if it holds up to scrutiny at the Congressional Hearing next week. Anyway, McNamee kept all these materials in a SHOEBOX, and has now turned them over to federal investigators who will in turn turn them over to forensic scientists to determine if they can find trace amounts of Clemens' blood and HGH/steroids. And supposedly, according to ESPN reporter T.J. Quinn, these forensic scientists can generally determine if the evidence is genuine or fabricated.

If these tests come back positive against Clemens, he will go down with Rafael Palmeiro ("I never used steroids -- PERIOD.") and Bill Clinton ("I did not have sexual relations with that woman") as the biggest liars in recent memory. And maybe even worse, because federal authorities now have his denials under oath. He might go to jail for perjury. In fact, it could be argued that Clemens has a lot more to lose than McNamee right now. This is a dangerous game he's playing here.

Everything really rests on this new evidence now. Will this shoebox full of needles be the downfall of Clemens as was Monica's stained blue dress for President Clinton? Or will it go down with evidence like O.J.'s bloody glove as clues that don't stand up well to scrutiny?

I know this much: I'll be glued to whatever CSPAN channel is carrying this hearing next week!

What Authentic Contrition Looks Like

I've spent bandwidth here in the past discussing the public phenomenon of denying misdeeds & public figures who refuse to take responsibility for their actions (as evidenced here, here, and here). I've spent even more bandwidth recently discussing the public melodrama between Roger Clemens & his former trainer Brian McNamee regarding Clemens' alleged use of steroids. So I felt the need to share this.

Former Major League Pitcher Dan Naulty participated with Former Senator George Mitchell's investigation & was named in the Senator's Report on pages 232-233 (or 280-281 of "print pages" of the PDF document). I find Naulty to be an admirable person for having truly come clean about his past. I commend to you this interview that aired Sunday morning on ESPN's Outside the Lines.

I present you with former Major League pitcher, Dan Naulty:



One element that is so disturbing in the midst of these events resulting from the Mitchell Report is the lack of sincerity & authentic contrition in terms of players "coming clean" about these allegations. According to Naulty, at the time he was being interviewed, George Mitchell told him that he was the ONLY current or former player who had been fully open and honest about his history with performance enhancing drugs. What does that say about the sport, and its participants, who I follow & root for so passionately? That is REVOLTING. Revolting. It is little wonder that baseball has little to do with Naulty's life these days, at least as evidenced by the decor in his home.

I am pleased that Naulty does this public purging of his past in the name of Christ. According to an article he wrote in the New York Daily News:

The 37-year-old Naulty now lives in Colorado with his family and is pursuing a Ph.D in Biblical studies after earning two M.A. degrees at Trinity College and Theological Seminary (Ind.) and Iliff School of Theology (Colo.). He hopes to teach at a university or seminary and publish his story in book form.

If you want to listen to more of Dan Naulty's story, you can listen to a lengthy interview right here.

Predictions Re-Visited

Almost ten months ago, I gave you my predictions on the 2007 MLB regular season. I also gave some pretty good other "random" predictions. Let's revisit those, shall we, so that I can have an opportunity to pat myself on the back...

"Barry Bonds hits 30+ homeruns and thus breaks Hank Aaron's all-time record of 755."

CLOSE. Barry smacked 28 homeruns, which was indeed enough to make him the new All-Time Homerun Record Holder. He was also indicted.



"Bobby Cox hangs 'em up as Atlanta Braves manager at the end of this season when the new cheap ownership allows John Smoltz & Andruw Jones to walk. Smoltz signs with the Detroit Tigers & Andruw signs with the Boston Red Sox."

WAY off. Bobby's still going strong. Smoltz re-upped with the Braves. Andruw did walk, but not to the Sox. He's a Dodger now.

It was viable. Just didn't happen.



"Bobby's successor will be Joe Torre. Joe returns to Atlanta where he has formerly played & managed. He's not tired of baseball; just tired of the unreal Yankee expectations. He's attracted to Atlanta by his history with the franchise, the first-class front office headed by John Schuerholz, and the opportunity to teach young ballplayers. Another first-round failure in the playoffs marks Joe's final season in pinstripes."

Eh... so-so prediction. Torre did spend his last season in New York but not in baseball -- he, too, goes to the Dodgers.

Schuerholz gave up his GM duties. After having won so many division titles in a row & now having not even made the wild card two years in a row, something was going to have to change. Turned out it was John instead of Bobby.



"This is NOT A-Rod's final season in pinstripes."

Nailed it! Whenever you have a mole-hill, just remember that the media will be right there to make a mountain out of it for you.



"Torre's successor in the Bronx will be the overwhelmingly popular Joe Girardi."

Now we're rollin'! But should I really take credit for this? We all saw this coming a mile away, didn't we?



"Roger Clemens announces that he is returning to the Yankees around Memorial Day. Sometime around the middle of September, he will pull up with some kind of nagging injury and announce his retirement from Major League Baseball FOR GOOD. No one believes him, but 2008 comes and goes & Clemens fattens up and it becomes apparent that his retirement actually is for real. Three years following the retirement, some crafty investigative reporter will release a blockbuster, best-selling tell-all book that reveals an organized MLB cover-up of Clemens' 2007 positive test for steroids. This reporter chronicles how MLB didn't want another black eye & convinced Clemens to finally retire and avoid public embarassment. Forget the controversy over Mark McGwire; "The Rocket" becomes the new poster child for steroids in baseball as America finally wakes up to realize how more pitchers than hitters are users."

Wow.

Clemens busted? Check. Injured late in the season? Check. New poster child for roid rage? Check, with the picture being him throwing the broken shard of a bat at Mike Piazza in the 2000 World Series.

Blockbuster, tell-all by crafty investigative reporter? I'd imagine that Dan Shaugnessy or Mark Fainaru-Wada is working on it already...

Dirty Little Secrets

On Thursday, while summarizing the latest on the public media feud between Clemens & McNamee, I wrote:

All the skeletons are coming out of the closet with this one, folks. The 2008 Presidential Election has nothing on these guys!

So, today, news outlets are reporting that information McNamee reported to federal law enforcement officials has been leaked. Specifically, McNamee told investigators that Clemens had an abscess on his buttocks while injecting Clemens with 'roids in 1998. From the ESPN article:

While any injection can lead to an abscess, an anti-doping expert said steroid injections are more likely to trigger abscesses, according to the Times.

It's circumstantial evidence at best. It is one more piece of evidence, but it really doesn't do anything substantial to further McNamee's public claims against Clemens. This release was a shot across the bow. Clemens hurt McNamee with the taped phone call & released info about his alleged rape of a woman in Florida. McNamee is just trying to show that he's got the goods to return the favor. From an article in the NY Daily News:

"Brian knows a lot about Roger's moral character and knows a lot about his extracurricular activities," said Earl Ward, McNamee's lawyer. "There's a lot that he could say to damage Roger's reputation, but we plan on taking the high road.

[...]

Attempts to smear McNamee could backfire, said Ward. McNamee worked with and knew Clemens over a significant stretch of time, the attorney said, and McNamee knows a great deal about Clemens' character as well, issues that can arise in a defamation suit.

"Brian knows a lot about Roger's moral character and if some of this stuff were to come out, Roger Clemens would look very, very, very bad," Ward said. "What does it all mean, in terms of our legal strategy? I think it's something that we'll look at in any defamation suit."

"High Road?" Yeah right.

Every little secret. Every embarrassing detail. Every speck of dirt under every fingernail will see the light of day before this feud is settled.

Smoke and Mirrors

Well, good for Clemens. Being interviewed by Mike Wallace is the closest thing to testifying under oath or submitting to a polygraph. Only it is NOT those things. This is undoubtedly a dog & pony show to pull a confidence scam on the public, trying to convince folks that he is telling the truth & McNamee is not. Are we supposed to believe that McNamee told the truth under oath about Andy Pettitte, but LIED about Roger Clemens? Are we supposed to believe that he NATURALLY stayed remarkably healthier in his later years than he did in his earlier years? What a joke!

As someone on an internet forum posted about a former incompetent University of Alabama official, I believe my sentiments regarding Roger Clemens may be summed up by the lyrics of San Quentin by the venerable Johnny Cash:

(Roger Clemens), may you rot and burn in hell.
May your (records) fall and may I live to tell.
May all the world forget you ever stood.
And may all the world regret you did no good.

Well, maybe hell is too strong. May he rot & burn in baseball purgatory. How's that?

The Links

A couple of blogs that I frequent often post a series of links that are of general interest. Since I've picked my blogging habits back up, I've stumbled upon a few things that I reckon some of you might be interested in as well. So, without further delay & in no particularly reasoned order, I present you with "The Links."

A powerful Christmas Message today from Preacher Mike Cope. No one better presents the "Already, But Not Yet" element of the Christian Faith than Preacher Mike.

The Dabbinator and friends ruminate upon how Christians should deal with retirement in contemporary, 21st century America.

I must give credit to Jordan on this one. The Shawshank Redemption came to life this week.

The New Batman Trailer. Ooooohh!

MSNBC has determined the Most Peculiar Stories of 2007. When a man having sex with a dead deer rings in only at number FIVE, you know it has to be a good list.

The Tribune Company owns the Chicago Cubs, and also Wrigley Field. The Tribune Company recently underwent an ownership change, and the new owner wants to sell naming rights to Wrigley Field.

Lots of talk following MLB's Mitchell Report about records, awards, & legacies, and the revoking of some of these for users of performance-enhancing substances. I tend to agree with Mr. Araton of the NY Times when he argues that meeting out justice for those times is too complex for surgical procedures (e.g. stripping someone of their Cy Young Award(s), wiping records or placing asterisks in the record book, etc.), and that we can do little more than acknowledge that the entire era is permanently stained. An excerpt:

Like it or not, the era is what it is. It is naïve to the point of absurd to believe it can be partly revised or rewritten to meet some arbitrary standard of tolerance. Based on what we know, it stands to reason that on a percentage basis in every way possible, cheats won, even when they squared off.

Gwen Knapp of the San Francisco Chronicle looks through the veneer of the public statements issued by MLB players through their lawyers and sees half-truths & misinformation. It is completely transparent how these statements are merely an attempt to redeem their public image.

Tim Sullivan notes that Roger Clemens' former trainer & accuser told his tale under oath. If we're to believe the tale that Clemens spun, Sullivan says that The Rocket should argue his innocence under oath, as well.

Did A-Rod Lie to Katie Couric?

Ever seen the movie, The Negotiator? It stars Samuel L. Jackson as a City Police Hostage Negotiator who is framed & takes hostages for himself. Thriller!

Anyway, in that movie, Samuel L. Jackson's character interviews a man who he thinks aided in framing him, and, in the process of interrogating him, accuses him of lying:

Turn Your Volume WAY Up


If you couldn't make out what he said, in essence, Samuel L. Jackson's character calls the guy out on a lie. The way he does this is by watching his eye movements when he answers questions. The way you can tell is this: if the subject of a question shifts his eyes to his left, he is accessing the portion of his brain reserved for memory. Thus, he is telling the truth. If the subject shifts his eyes to his right, he is accessing the portion of his brain for creativity. Thus, he is making up what he says.

This website confirms the information from that movie scene. It further breaks down the eye movements into 6 directions, but the basic right/left distinction remains. Also, this phenomenon is BACKWARDS (e.g. eyes to the subject's right for memory & eyes to the subject's left for lying) for people who are left-handed.

And now to our feature presentation: Alex Rodriguez. On Thursday, mere moments after the release of George Mitchell's Report on Performance Enhancing Drug Use in Major League Baseball, Katie Couric interviewed A-Rod for a piece that will air tonight on the CBS Weekly News Magazine, 60 Minutes. Take a look at the clip that is linked for you below and, in particular, pay attention to the movement of A-Rod's eyes when he answers Katie's question regarding whether he had ever been tempted to take any performance enhancing substances.

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3619664n

So what do you think? Was A-Rod, who bats & throws right-handed, accessing the section of his brain where creativity takes place before he answered that question? Was A-Rod lying?

Another plausible theory goes like this... A-Rod is very concerned with his reputation. He wants people to like him, almost too much. Almost to a fault. He's giving an interview that will go a long way toward forming people's opinions of him, especially of people who don't watch ESPN, listen to sports talk radio, or follow sports closely. You could almost see him asking himself in that moment, "What answer should I give?" Or, "What's the best way I could answer this so that people don't hate me?" Thus, if A-Rod was really thinking such thoughts, he wasn't so much concerned with concealing past steroid use or desires as much as he was giving an answer that made people like him or look up to him.

I know it's a stretch, but this admittedly-biased baseball fan is gonna chalk this one up as circumstantial evidence of lying about PED use. Almost everyone that slime-ball Jose Canseco has named has been outed as a user or corroborated as an alleged user by other accounts. His accusations look more & more credible as time passes and more evidence surfaces. And he continues to be adamant that A-Rod is, or was, a user. And in the court of public opinion, sometimes accusations & circumstantial evidence is enough. We're not trying the man for murder. We're merely judging his athleticism, Hall of Fame credentials, and place within history. And in the absence of a perfect system to catch those who seek to gain an unfair advantage, we fans are forced to form our own opinions. I've formed mine. What is your's?

Is anyone Guilty anymore?

I posted these thoughts earlier on a group blog that I'm a part of. I decided to expand those thoughts a little here.

Harold Reynolds plans to sue ESPN. Reynolds, a former analyst for Baseball Tonight, was fired (I believe) because he "allegedly" sexually harrassed a female co-worker at ESPN. "Allegedly," this was not the first incident. Therefore, he was dismissed. He denies the allegations, however, and plans on clearing his name.

(FWIW, Reynolds was my favorite ESPN personality. I love watching Baseball Tonight, and the show has not been the same without him. Guilty or not guilty, I hope he lands on his feet on some other baseball program, because the guy is fun to watch.)

My question is this: Is anyone guilty anymore? It seems that the order of our society is plausible deniability. Rafael Palmeiro didn't do steroids -- he tested positive due to sharing needles with Miguel Tejada, who gave him a B-12 shot. Floyd Landis never knowingly took steroids -- it was the alcohol he drank, the supplements he took, or any other of the half-dozen excuses he gave. Kenny Rogers didn't have pine tar on his hand -- that brown smudge you saw on TV was "dirt." John Kerry wasn't talking about all the troops who are honorably placing their lives on the line -- he was talking about George W. Bush.

In the immortal words of Cousin-Kissing John Stossel: "Give me a BREAK!"

I know it's shameful to confess and to admit that you did or said something wrong. But why don't people just own up & do it? And certainly, not all the publicly accused are necessarily guilty. But for the ones who are, honesty has become the last resort.

This frustrates me. I'm sick & tired of people peeing on my shoes & telling me that it's rain.